Bust Up in the Bristol Bocage

Over the New Year period I had drawn up some plans for a few games to help kick-start 2021, but then I simply couldn't drum up the enthusiasm to play them. I think the whole uncertainty as to whether we were going into another full lockdown or not, with the impact this would have on the family, was to blame. Not knowing what was going to happen meant that I couldn't really plan anything other than on a day-to-day basis, which was immensely frustrating! Bizarrely (or not) when the full lockdown was announced, at least I knew how things were going to be for at least the next 6 weeks and so felt up for at least a small game to get my gaming mojo back.

So the plan was to give my A Very British Civil War forces another run out, using BKCII and on a 2' x 2' table, with quite small forces, as can be seen below:

 

OOB

Each side had:

1 x CO

2 x HQs

6 x Infantry Regulars (2 with ATR upgrades)

1 x MG

1 x 3" Mortar

1 x Armoured Car

Deployment & Objective

Whilst cycling around the local countryside of late I was reminded at times of the Normandy Bocage, due to the sunken lanes, high banked hedgerows etc and so thought that this would make for an interesting table and game. 

Both sides would enter via one of the table corners, with the British Union of Fascists via the top right and the 5th People's Flying Column the bottom left. Both forces would start off table and roll to arrive as normal.

The objective was to capture and control the area around the plane that had been forced to land due to lack of fuel, for future use by whom could ever secure it. So nothing fancy but a simple scenario to get me back into gaming.

 

An overview of the table.

The objective having landed near a staggered junction.

The 5th People's Flying Column.

The BUF.

 

Opening Moves

The BUF won the die roll and chose to go first, with their infantry moving on slowly in the cornfield and towards the orchard on their left. The armoured car raced up to the road junction to try and secure it, assuming the infantry would come up quickly to support it.

The 5th PFC advanced both flanks either side of the road, but their CO with the armoured car, MG and mortar failed to arrive, so limiting their options.

The 5th PFC right flank pushes on towards the road junction.

The 5th PFC left flank near the other road junction, but are out of view of the BUF armoured car sat astride the road junction.

The BUF infantry make rather slow progress compared to their armoured support.

 

Middle Game

The BUF left flank moved up to the orchard and deployed, but the right flank in the cornfield and the CO failed to move, leaving the armoured car rather isolated. Seeing an opportunity, the 5th PFC left flank moved up to the hedgerow, dodging opportunity fire from the BUF armoured car, then with combined fire suppressed the armoured car and forcing it back, with it lucky to have survived. The 5th PFC right flank took the fight to the BUF in the orchard, driving one unit back and suppressing another, as the CO tried to send the armoured car forward to support the attack.

 

The BUF infantry then had a torrid time as two blunders sent the left flank back away from the orchard where they had just arrived, whilst the right flank in the cornfield came under friendly fire, but luckily only took a few hits. Fortunately the  CO upped his game and combined fire from the MG and mortar nearly finished off the 5th PFC unit by the road junction, but inaccurate shooting saved them.

With the orchard ripe for seizing, the 5th PFC right flank moved forward and shot up one infantry unit leaving it hors de combat, whilst on the left flank the infantry started to cross the road, only to then stop. The CO moved up the MG and armoured car to the road junction on the right flank, giving the infantry in the orchard very useful support.

An overview at the end of Turn 2.

The BUF armoured car comes under fire from the 5th PFC and is suppressed and forced back.

The BUF infantry  fail to move up quickly enough to support the armoured car.

An overview at the end of Turn 3.

The 5th PFC right flank are in a strong position, having driven the BUF out of the orchard and with MG and armourd car support in evidence.

The 5th PFC left flank also in a strong position, but froze as they crossed the road. Importantly they are in control of the objective at this point.

The BUF infantry on the right flank are still too tardy in their attitude to the battle.

 

End Game

With the BUF left flank under severe pressure, the remaining unit moves towards the cornfield and support from unit on the right flank, which have moved forward and with superbly accurate shooting, finish off the 5th PFC unit by the aeroplane. The armoured car fails to hit anything at all and the CO fails to get his orders through to the MG and mortar unit, hampering attempts to drive the 5th PFC troops away from the objective.

The 5th PFC left flank finally brews up the armoured car as the right flank moves into the orchard, where a sharp firefight breaks out, with units being suppressed on both sides, but the 5th PFC coming out slightly on top. The CO failed to get his orders through just when shooting from the armoured car, MG and mortar may have really counted.

Under intense fire, the BUF flanks fail to be commanded, but the CO gets through (double 1) and suppresses and forces back 5th PFC units in the orchard. They are certainly not going down without a fight!

Fortunately for the 5th PFC, some initiative fire on the right flank in the orchard destroys the last BUF unit on the left flank and suppresses the HQ unit in the cornfield. The 5th PFC units on the left flank push forward to try and turn the BUF position, whilst yet again the 5th PFC CO fails to order the armoured car, MG and mortar which could have administered the coup de grace to the BUF.

An overview at the end of Turn 4.

The demise of the BUF armoured car.

An overview at the end of Turn 5.

The 5th PFC right flank in a dominant position.

The 5th PFC left flank guard the objective and watch the BUF to their front.

 

End of Game

With the BUF near their breakpoint and in a position from which it would be unlikely that they could secure the objective, they wisely decided to quit the field of battle.

 

Post Game Thoughts

Well that was a nice little game to get me back into the swing of things, given my struggle to get in the mood for gaming again in 2021. So as always a few post game thoughts:

• One of my aims from last year was to game with rules that I know and enjoy and BKCII certainly falls into this category. I only used the QRS and book a few times, which just allowed me to play the game without the stop start nature that chopping and changing rulesets can lead to. Certainly something that I will strive to continue to do this year and beyond.
• With no prospect of FtF gaming here until the Summer in all probablity, I'm hoping to make mid-week wargaming a regular thing again, all be it a solo affair. This sort of sized game certainly fits the bill when I haven't had the time or inclination for anything larger or more complex.
• Playing on a 2' x 2' table once again showed that, with smaller miniatures, you can get a reasonable game in a small space. Another advantage is that the setting up and taking down of the game is much quicker than a 'normal' one, which is rather handy to say the least.
• For this game I decided to give the CO a CV8 and the HQs a CV7, so as to try and stop units whizzing all over the table too quickly. I wasn't sure if this would work but it did and was perfect for the smaller sized game, as units moving only once didn't have a disproportionate affect upon the game. For bigger battles I tend to up both by '1' to allow for more activations which I find leads to a better game.
• The rules from the SCW supplement in terms of command units worked well for this game and meant that I didn't have to rush to pain some more HQs. I will do this in the future and having played the game, I want to finish off some units and armour that has been sat around for sometime as well as re-flagging units as they were done in a hurry and are looking rather tired.
• I did contemplate using the Sniper rules from BKCIV, which I think would work well for this level of action, but decided not to use them as I hadn't read them properly and didn't want to add anything that might disrupt the flow of the game. Certainly something to consider for the future though.
• Both sides had their fair share of chances in the game and it could have easily gone the other way for the BUF, if the odd shooting die rolls had been better etc. It wasn't one sided which was good and the BUF kept in the fight right until the end. 
• Having dug my AVBCW units out I want to sort out a narrative campaign or maybe 3-5 games, loosely based around a theme, such as capturing an areoplane as in this game. I need to flesh out some ideas and sort out some proper OOB, which has been on my to-do list for far too long. with lockdown here to stay until mid-February at the earliest, I'm certainly going to have the time to do it.
  

 

Well that's the first game of 2021 out of the way and I did enjoy myself, which is the most important thing. Having played lots of BPII last year, I think I will move back to some Honours of War games for the first quarter or so, using the OHW scenarios as a basis for the actions. One is already sorted out and I just need to send of info to Dave to receive my orders as it were. Also in the pipeline is some form of Pike & Shotte gaming, but more of that in another post. So until next time...